Can you help trace a Swedish immigrant back to Sweden?

Question

Does anyone here have experience with Swedish genealogy, and particularly with tracing a Swedish immigrant back to Sweden? This is the most neglected branch of my tree because I'm totally lost here.

My 3x great grandfather, Nelson Peterson, came to Ontario from Sweden. I've found him in the Canadian censuses from 1881 to 1921. According to the 1901 census, he immigrated in 1874.

Beyond that, I have a tree (going back to his grandparents) with no sources. I got it from my grandma, who got it from someone else in the family, who apparently had a Swedish researcher do it. When I first joined WikiTree I put it up, even though I had no sources, and I'm a little embarassed by that, so I really want to fix it. :) According to this tree, Nelson's birth name was Nils Pehrsson.

Any help in finding Nelson's Swedish origins would be so appreciated!

Comments

There is a tree on Ancestry at [http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/15247517/person/419556193] which shows that Nelson was born on 29 Dec 1849 and died on 23 Feb 1940 in Barwick, Ontario.  5 children, wife Mary Elizabeth Prince.  No info on parents, but the death date might get you to a death record, which might help. The person who put up the tree last logged in 11 months ago.

Another tree [http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/36827201/person/18995323549] has Nels b. 27 Dec 1849, Nasum Parish, Skane; father as Peter Anderson, b. Skane; and mother Bengta Nilsdotter, d. abt 1888, Nasum Parish, Skane.

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Those are definitely my Nelson! Too bad neither of those Ancestry trees contains a source for his origin. The one that has any sources at all has the same ones I do. But that's the first time I've seen a specific parish mentioned, so that's a lead, at least! Maybe it'll lead me to something more.

Thanks Vic!

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There is a Nils Born to Per Anderson and it looks like Bengta Nilsdotter on Dec 27 1849, Christened on the 30th    It is in the Kristianstad - Nasum Births 1842 -1861 page 63  (image number 36 on Ancestry)  http://interactive.ancestry.com/2225/KL-5893_1686__27-103600?backurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ancestry.com%2fsearch%2fdb.aspx%3fdbid%3d2225%26path%3d&ssrc=&backlabel=ReturnBrowsing#?imageId=KL-5893_1686__27-107100

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Bob, That is a great find!  Swedish records are so great that Lianne will really be able to jet back from there!   And I'll help.

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You two are both so amazing!! As soon as I have some free time, I'm going to look into this further, and definitely write a blog post about this exciting discovery! You rock, seriously.

Answer 1

Hi Lianne! Try this one: http://www.augustana.edu/general-information/swenson-center-